Businesses in Action

With over 20% of businesses in Perth and Kinross recycling and introducing waste minimisation practices it is encouraging to see businesses from different sectors spread throughout the whole of Perth and Kinross carrying out best practice. Here are just a few case studies to illustrate...

Case Study 1:
Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Pitlochry

Pitlochry Festival Theatre is a not-for-profit theatre, which includes a Festival restaurant, cafŽ, and bar, art gallery, Festival gift shop and Explorers Garden. It is no wonder then that they generate a large quantity of waste. They are just one business in the entertainment and tourism sector successfully demonstrating their commitment to reducing the impact of their activities on the environment.

So far the Theatre, through Perth & Kinross Council, has introduced 6 glass recycling bins and 3 paper recycling bins. They have also recently upgraded their cardboard recycling bins to a cardboard skip. The volume of cardboard that enters the organisation is substantial and so increased efforts are made by the Theatre to find suppliers that offer minimal packaging.

Through their successful recycling and waste minimisation efforts the Theatre has managed to minimise the number of waste containers they use for their general waste.

Pete Appleby, Technical Manager for the Theatre says "Our environmental objectives include a commitment to reusing as much of the Theatre's waste as possible including reusing the materials used to create the stage sets. For example, we try to reuse as much as 70% of the timber used in set construction, any parts of the sets that we cannot reutilise; we donate to a Pitlochry community event."

However, the Theatre have realised that a successful waste minimisation programme is not just about getting the correct bins in place but ensuring that there is adequate staff awareness and training. Pete added: "We provide appropriate training to our employees to enable them to implement our environmental code. We also exercise control, as far as is possible, over the environmental impacts arising as a result of work being undertaken on our behalf by sub-contractors, suppliers and maintenance contractors."

Pete was also pleased to announce that Pitlochry Festival Theatre has recently gained a gold award under The Green Tourism Business Scheme. This is a VisitScotland accredited scheme to help tourism businesses to reduce their environmental impact, save costs, improve efficiency and increase their marketing potential.

So even with a busy season of events and concerts the Theatre is still finding time to address their environmental responsibilities.

For more information, go to Pitlochry Festival Theatres page 'Green Tourism' at www.pitlochry.org.uk For information on the Green Tourism Business Scheme visit www.green-business.co.uk/scotland.html

Case Study 2:
Wade Newsagents, Aberfeldy

When Wade Newsagent's received their annual waste disposal bill they were worried about their disposal costs and wrote to Perth & Kinross Council to ask for advice. Commercial Waste Minimisation Officer Sheila Stewart arranged to visit the newsagent in Aberfeldy to see how she could help.

Sheila said: "It was discovered that even though they were producing approximately 5 tonnes of waste per year the majority of that were materials that could be easily recycled including paper and cardboard."

By recycling their cardboard through Perth & Kinross Council and arranging for the supplier to take back their residual newspapers they have reduced their general waste collection by more than 60%.

Billy manager from the newsagents said: "We put our cardboard out on the kerbside for collection once a week with the green label system. We have discovered that we have quite a lot of cardboard over a weekly period but our commercial waste bin now only goes out once a week instead of twice and we have reduced our bin from a 500 litre to a 360 litre capacity."